Pulling Pigtails
by MickeyMooseCaramel
Summary: Kise Ryouta was in no way inspired when a flying basketball impacted his head. He was clearly the target of the tanned boy's bullying ways. - Teikou AU - AoKi KiKuro KagaKuro @.@
1. Chapter 1

Pulling Pigtails – Short Story (?)

Disclaimers: I do not own Kuroko no Basuke.

This is a work of fiction and incredulous occurrences do occur, no words are meant to hurt anyone's feelings.

* * *

After a rather disappointing session of ball dribbling in football, Kise Ryouta was certainly bored. And like every bored person would do when bored, he mentally complained. Complained how every sports he tried was turning quite tedious, which was tragic as he rather liked sports, it kept him slim and flocked with servan-err-fanpeople (oops). Although he would be forever appeased if someone could light a fire in his bored life.

His train of thought was cut short when his face impacted the ground, courtesy of a rather round object which attacked his well-proportioned head.

And no, by 'lighting a fire,' Kise did not refer to the painful burning sensation on the back of his head.

The round menace turned out to be a basketball. Its menacing curly lines seemed to only mocked him further. All he could do was glare back at the nasty piece of roundness.

"Sorry, sorry," came a rather laidback voice from a rather black guy who didn't seem to be feeling 'sorry' in any sense of word if his smile was anything to go by. So, no, Kise was not going to forgive him or his ball (basketball).

He was dark and aggressive like a gangster, he was simply a ganguro. A ganguro kurosuke, and Kise simply did not deal with ganguro kurosukes. It was hate at first sight!

Throwing a ball at someone's head was clearly a form a bullying, especially when said ball and ganguro was leagues away from the school gymnasium.

Kise was a lot of things, but tolerating bullying from a ganguro was not one of them.

"Aren't you that famous Model Ki-" His question was cut rather short when a basketball impacted his face, courtesy of Kise's amazing throw prowess. Kise quickly walked away before the ganguro could recover from his dark concussions, which seemed to fail as said ganguro was walking towards him with a rather angry face.

Luckily or predictably, he was blocked by the Great Wall of China aka the large group of fangirls, god blessed them.

Taking the chance, he quickly walked up to car waiting for him at the school's exit and left the premises before the ganguro kurosuke could rage on. He'd been injured quite enough, thank you very much. He was a model with places to go and things to do. A busy life if he would say so, especially when he was still 13.

At least he learnt that basketball was quite an aggressive sport, suitable for ganguro kurosukes like the one he'd just encounter. It was not a sport for someone as precious and kawaii as he was. It simply was blacklisted! BLACKLISTED!

* * *

Spending his time and efforts on modeling and the like, it wasn't long before a scouting agency noticed his skills and casted him a role in various movies. One was the 'blonde prince,' where he obviously played the role of the blonde prince. The other was his role as a young Louis XIV aka the sun king, his blonde hair clearly helped, and though critics criticized how Louis XIV did not have blonde hair, his acting (which he borrowed from world renowned actors from watching them), was greatly praised. His fame was taken to new heights in a matter of a few months; the same could be said of his fans that experienced a hundredfold increase.

He did appreciate his fans; after all they were his loyal human shields, but things got out of hand outside of school. His Teikou's fangirls knew how to not act aggressive towards him and he was totally fine with that, but the same could not be said about his fanbase outside of Teikou.

Public fans were good but quite dangerous if there were too many, much like the dosages of painkillers.

As all famous models and actors did, he disguised him with a pair of black sunglasses and a beanie in order to mingle with the normal crowd.

Sadly it did not go to well as his perfect disguise was torn away the moment his aggressive fangirls' laid eyes on him.

In the midst of Shinjuku, he could feel himself being slowly surrounded by more and more fangirls.

His fear tolerance was reaching its limits and he nearly screamed until someone pulled him into a rather small street. He turned to evaluate whether this person was his helper or his soon to be rapist but he saw no one.

"Good afternoon." A voice said and his heart nearly stopped but he quickly reminded himself that this was in broad daylight and ghost simply did not appear in broad daylight.

The source of the voice was from a rather petite looking boy with light blue hair, he was rather small so it was impossible for him to rape Kise, hence Kise was probably safe from being raped in a rather small street.

"Do I know you?" He asked quietly, still fearing that this boy might be some strange spiritual ghostly concoction that could appear in broad daylight.

"We go to the same school."

"Ah. I see." But he did not see, he'd never seen that face before. Again, it could be due to the fact that fangirls were always blocking his gaze.

"And you are?" He asked back.

"I'm Kuroko Tetsuya, it's nice to meet you." 'Kuroko' replied as he bowed.

It was strange how unfailingly polite this ghost boy was but his ghostly presence was quite amazing and Kise could sure respect that, but firstly he would have to be sure that this boy wasn't a ghost.

"Well, I'm Kise Ryouta, thanks for the save anyway, I'll be sure to return the favour. See you." The light bluenette simply nodded and Kise quickly ran away before anymore ghost or fangirls could haunt him further.

* * *

It turned out that Kuroko Tetsuya aka. Kurokocchi, courtesy of his amazing ghost-like/phantom-like whatsoever skills was not _dead_, hence was not a ghost and therefore deserved Kise's respect for his abilities and his help.

His present film set was near school and as and Miki-san, his manager drove past it, he saw a familiar figure.

"Miki-san! Stop, stop!" The car stopped and he quickly ran down shouting "Kurokocchi!" The ghost-like person seemed to as recognized him.

"It's nice to see you again Kise-kun, why are you calling me Kurokocchi?"

"Ah. I add –chi to the names of people I respect, saving me sure earned you that." He answered, cheerfully as was now certain that Kuroko wasn't a ghost.

"Please stop that." The phantom quickly shot down his cheerful speech but Kise was nothing if not determined.

"It's fine isn't it, and I told you I'll return that favour, so is there anything you want to ea-" Before he finished his sentence, a shout of "Oi! Tetsu!" Came. It was eerily familiar and he was quite afraid to see the source of the voice.

Unfortunately, his suspicions were correct, it was none other than that ganguro kurosuke!

"Y-You! You ganguro kurosuke!" Kise shouted as he glared at the dark figure that seemed dumbstruck for a while before he regained foothold.

"Ganguro kurosuke? What the hell is that! And aren't you that aggressive model who threw a ball at my face?"

"I only retaliated, you were clearly bullying me! Hmph! As if I'd believe your lies of it being a stray ball when the gym is kilometres away from the school's exit." His logical answer stunned the ganguro. Kuroko simply stared appraisingly at the tanned boy leaving the group of three in a world known as awkward silence. Said world was destroyed when a pink haired girl who appeared out of nowhere started giggling as she muttered 'ganguro kurosuke' repeatedly.

"Kise-kun, that was so creative!" She beamed at him, "I'm Momoi Satsuki, and the g-ganguro kurosuke over there is Aomine-kun." She said, though he really didn't care for the name of said ganguro; to him ganguros would always be ganguros.

"Now that we're all here, shall we get some popsicles?" Kurokocchi spoke and Kise was quite confused about what he meant by popsicles.

It turned out that popsicles were shared frozen ice and Kise ended up paying for all of them. He was happy to buy them for Kurokocchi and Momoi-san but to buy them for the ganguro was something he couldn't tolerate even when he had already bought them.

His musing came to an end when a piece of Popsicle appeared in front of his face.

"Here's yours," The ganguro said and Kise reluctantly accepted. He had to admit that the popsicle was quite tasty and he supposed sharing really did enhanced the taste, even when you're sharing them with a ganguro.

Kise realized that his popsicle eating trip was quite time consuming the moment Miki-san ran over, telling that him that it's time to go.

The ice cream eating trip was fun and he did meet new people, even if he didn't care for the company of some.

Walking back, a familiar painful sensation impacted his head; it wasn't as painful as last the last time he felt it, seeing that he was still standing. Turning back he saw the ganguro kurosuke smirking playfully.

"Ah, ah, sorry my hands slipped." Was the worse excuse that could be given but the bluenette said it anyway.

"Y-You bully!" Kise shouted before he quickly escaped into his safe haven know as Miki-san's car.

* * *

His film studio was close to Teikou. He'd taken its advantage and decided to join Kurokocchi's occasional popsicle outing.

It wasn't long before he realized that both Kurokocchi and Momoi-san were members of the basketball club, something he clearly disapproved of. Kurokocchi's was quite a basketballphile, though Kise refrained from criticizing he fear of nasty consequences.

He did enjoy the company even if the annoying ganguro kurosuke kept throwing balls at his head whilst Kurokocchi made a knowing look. He always had plenty of fangirls, but friends? Not so much.

He'd been quite a target of bullying in kindergarten and early primary before his mum pulled him off to be home-schooled. Kurokocchi might not think so but Kurokocchi was Kise's best friend, Kurokocchi saved him from certain death after all. Kise admitted that it wasn't the most unbiased of judgement as Kurokocchi was his first and only friend.

With school, work and popsicle or Maji-burger outings, a week flew by in an instant.

A new vanilla and chocolate stuffed Maiubo snack commercial was recently released although said snack would not be made available for the public until a few weeks after. Miki-san, his manager who should be in the marketing department instead decided that Kise should be carrying around said snacks until the public released date in order to promote its popularity.

Class was boring as usual , however Kise could feel that something was different. Turning around, he realized he was the subject of the purple-haired titan's stares.

"D-do you want something?" he asked insecurely.

The purple-haired titan simply nodded but said nothing. However, it was quite clear that the titan's saliva was dripping, could the titan be having nasty thoughts of him, his beautiful looks must be like magnetic pull to bullies.

Though upon closer inspection, it wasn't him that was the object of the stares, it was rather the bag of new vanilla-chocolate Maiubo that was on his desk.

"Err, do you want this?" His question made the titan nod as his eyes _sparkled._ Well, at least Kise was relived that he wasn't going to be eaten.

"You can't take the bag." He said and the purple titan slumped, manager Miki's command was quite absolute when it came to marketing, and keeping the bag with him at all times was a must.

"But I can share the snacks with you if you want." He offered and the titan drew near as his eyes brightened like illuminations.

"Really?" The purple titan asked, as if wary that Kise might not be keeping his words.

"Of course." He replied sincerely, handing the bag of snacks to the purple titan. "I'm Kise Ryouta, and you are?" For some reason, he felt that he was not known by the titan even with his skyrocketing popularity.

"Murasakibara Atsushi." The giant said before he helped himself to a handful of Maiubo. "Wahhh! It's delicious!" Murasakibara made a blissful moan and continued to ask as he ate "Whrere did wu get dis wrom."

"Ah, I'm the presenter so I got the them before the launch."

"Ah! I remember you now! I was so angry since you were on television eating snacks which were impossible for me to get. I was so angry that I want to _crush_ you then." Kise thought _crushing_ people for having snacks was quite extreme, fortunately Murasakibara seemed appeased with the snacks, snacks which Kise did not find that appetizing.

"I still have loads at home, I can bring it if you want? As long as you don't take the bag as it's suppose to be exclusive." And he really did have loads more at home. Miki-san's urge to promote the sales resulted in his house being filled with boxes of exclusive Maiubo which Kise was not allow to give away but was commanded to keep a bag with him for public exposure at all time.

Miki-san's enthusiasm sometimes made Kise wonder whether he was related to the owner of the Maiubo company. Murasakibara's love was a good way for him to rid himself off those boxes.

"Really? That would be amazing Kise-chin!"

Kise concluded that some people could truly be lured by food.

* * *

Murasakibara following him around was a benefit in disguise. Sure, he loved his fans, but they always seemed to block pathways when he was walking around.

Those worries became non-existent the moment Murasakibara entered. He was like a pseudo-path opener in every sense of the word.

However, it was as he suspected. Murasakibara was a member of Teikou's basketball club. It wasn't that had to see, especially when every members seemed to have weird quirks or are prone to violence, similar to that silver-grey haired guy he'd met earlier.

The fuming silver-head boy confronted him and raged on about how Kise stole his girlfriend, something that he totally understood. Kise was too handsome for his own good and that was his cross to bear. Things got weird when the silver-head claimed that the blonde was dating her. Either there were 2 Kise(s) or that the girl was a liar since Kise was not dating anyone.

The violent guy however decided that the blonde needed some pummeling and proceeded to lift Kise up from his collar. It wasn't that Kise didn't know how to fight, he was just quite anti-violence. His purple giant was off practicing that violent sport called basketball, which made Kise wonder why this silver headed guy was in front of him rather than at practice, since violent pinpoints basketball. Things were looking to be quite bleak hurtful for but suddenly the violent boy released Ryota and sank to the ground holding his crotch.

He turned around to find Kokou-san, president of the 'Love Kise-sama4Ever!' club glaring hatefully and the downed boy. She was accompanied by his troops of loyal fangirls who were ready to tear the silver-haired boy apart.

"What were you trying to do to Kise-sama!" She fired her question.

The violent boy reply of "bitch" was not the brightest nor the best of answers and resulted in him being pummelled by Kise's troops. He thanked his fangirls for their loyal services and gave them all a piece of Maiubo. Never again did the silver-haired boy, whose name he did not know confronted him at Teikou.

Kurokocchi did complained during their outing about the absence of said certain silver-haired boy but Ryota simply whistled and feigned ignorance. No one said anything about the violent boy's injury, fangirls' business was much like the mafia underground world. Such was the power of his fans.

Kise admitted that he was partially responsible for bringing this predicament upon himself. He should have known better, badmouthing basketball in front of Kurokocchi was not a great idea.

In retrospect, he blamed the ganguro kurosuke for it. The damn ganguro threw a basketball at his head _again_, an act that could cause permanent concussion and severe mental basketball trauma, which he supposed he already had the moment his face flattened the ground courtesy of said ganguro.

He decided that the ganguro deserved some drama and proceeded to declare the vileness, painful and uncivilized nature of basketball upon the ganguro kurosuke.

After he finished his rant did he noticed the dangerous glistening aura behind him, emanating from Kurokocchi of all people.

"Kise-kun, basketball is a great sport," Kurokocchi spoke in a sickeningly sincere sweet voice. Kise had used every bit of restrain in him to stop his 'no it's not' retort from emerging and mechanically nodded.

"Here, take it." The cyan-haired boy offered him a basketball. The fact that it manifested itself out of nowhere told Kise it was an object of darkness. He could hold it and throw it immediately so that his sight could rid itself off the evil roundness but Kurokocchi's gesture implied that he was to hold it for a while and that was a request he refused to oblige.

"I see that you still have deep prejudices for basketball. Kise-kun you're coming to the basketball practice tomorrow." Kurokocchi said, well more like decreed and Kise simply had to find a way out.

"Er- I have a modeling session tomorrow?" Kurokocchi simply shook his head to Kise's semi-questioning answer.

"Tomorrow is Sunday and you have no modeling." He was blasted, he'd spoken too much about his job that Kurokocchi now knew his timetable. Kurokocchi was scary sometimes.

The blasted ganguro kurosuke all but laughed at his predicament. The bastard.

* * *

No. He wasn't resigned to fate yet. He still had the sick card to play. However, that was shot down the moment his house bell rang.

His sisters told him he had a visitor and that could only be Miki-san yet he was met with the sight of Kurokocchi sitting in the living room.

"K-K-Kurokocchi!" How Kurokocchi got his house address he would never know. All he knew was that Kurokocchi was severely passionate about the violent sport of basketball and would seek to convert any haters, like how Christian missionaries might seek to convert believers of other religions to their own.

He was _dragged_ to school before he could even start moaning about how mean Kurokocchi was. Something was terribly wrong as he usually was the one doing the dragging. Luckily it was still quite early in the morning and fangirls were still asleep, hence the lack of viral pictures on the internet.

Kise was met with a world out of joint the moment he entered the school's basketball gymnasium. Again, this out of joint-ness might be caused by the menacing round object which impacted his head. The culprit was so obvious he didn't even have to look.

"Ganguro Kurosuke!" He shouted for justice but justice did not come. Kurokocchi gave him a severe look which said you-are-disturbing-practice whilst the ganguro laughed. Such was the cruelty of this world.

Kurokocchi sided with the ganguro and decided that Kise should learn how to play basketball. It was quite futile, especially when Kise was blatantly ignoring them. There was no way he was going to play a sport infested with bullies, especially when said sport was infested with a ganguro kurosuke bully.

He was saved from his predicament when the coach gave the 2 blue bullies a look that said stop messing around and start practicing.

Kise supposed he could appreciate the sport. Kurokocchi was quite good at it though the blonde could never understand how Kurokocchi could enjoy the game, especially when all he did was pass the ball. Kise thought his plays were rather similar to his personality, helping others, sacrificing himself without being truly appreciated. It was those qualities that drew him towards Kurokocchi.

Aomin-ganguro was good at it as well, his form was quite beautifu-…. But there was no way Kise would tell him that. There was also no way that Kise would play a sport which his hated ganguro played.

In the midst of the game that Kurokocchi and ganguro was playing, a red-haired boy walked up to him.

"I'm Akashi Seijuuro, the vice-captain of the basketball team. I sincerely apologized for the behavior of our club member, Haizaki." He said as he pointed his fingers towards a familiar silver-haired violent boy.

Kise wanted to blurt out 'how the hell did you know?' as his fangirls were the only group of people who knew about the assault. Again, it was the violent boy who started the fight, therefore Kise would not be in the wrong.

"What are you talking about?" Playing the ignorance card was the best escape. The redhead gave him a bland look, though Kise might've seen a hint of smirk in it.

"It's fine as long as these matters are kept secret." Akashi said in an even tone before he walked away. Some basketball players were quite ferocious about maintaining a pure image of their sports, Akashi probably was like Kurokocchi, trying to cover up any splotches of darkness in their beloved sports.

"Wahh, Kise-chin. I didn't know you play basketball." Came the voice as Murasakibara walked towards him before he sat down on the bench with Kise.

"I don't, Kurokocchi was not happy when I complained how dangerous basketball was and I was _dragged_ here." He deadpanned.

"Ahh, Kuro-chin does that. –"

Kurokocchi was anything but pleased when he came back to find Kise and Murasakibara complaining about basketball. Kise's life was met with more basketball when his friend decided that he needed basketball baptism.

* * *

Being dragged continuously to basketball practices was like torture, especially when one got at least a ball to the head each visit. The stares from a green-haired boy stating _what the hell are you doing here_ did not help much either.

However, as revealed by Murasakibara. Basketball players were prone to food bribery. And if there was something that Kise knew about his friend, it was that Kurokocchi was a Vanilla milkshake addict. In his latest film, he played a young chef and by that he was forced to acquire cooking skills. Not really a problem for him when he could replicate master chefs cooking methods with a single look. Making milkshake was nothing.

He was still dragged to practices when he wasn't modeling or acting but every time Kurokocchi tried to instil basketball love into him, he handed his friend a 'Kise-sama made vanilla milkshake,' as termed by his loyal fangirls. It worked as Kurokocchi became immediately addicted to his milkshake and Kise escaped the horror of basketball baptism.

However, Kurokocchi could still be underhanded. His friend told him that he wanted a teriyaki burger and Kise obliged. The blonde dedicated half a day to watching world class chef make teriyaki burger, yet his concoction ended up eaten by the ganguro who looked flushed but extremely pleased as he slowly cherished Kise's flavorable cooking. He was quite shock when Kurokocchi admitted that the ganguro asked him to tell Kise to make it. He was betrayed!

"You'd make a fine wife" said the ganguro as he finished the 4 burgers that Kise made. Calling him a 'wife' clearly was a form of bullying categorized as 'name calling.' Kise shed crocodile tears as he mourned his meeting with such bullies.

Momoi-san asked him to teach her how to cook but that went down fast as the school kitchen promptly exploded, though no one said anything and gas leaks was deduced as the cause. Momoi-san became Momocchi the moment her teriyaki burger, disguised as Kise's cooking caused the ganguro to immediately collapse. Poison cooking was a skill and he respected her abilities to concoct such cooking.

He was somehow elevated to the pseudo-manager of the Teikou's basketball club as managers had a duty to provide refreshments yet Momocchi could only provide toxins.

His concoction of red bean soup appeased the green haired boy, whose name he learnt was Midorima, the tofu-soup appeased the redheaded vice-captain and his fried rice caused the captain to look at him in awe.

Akashi soon decreed that Kise was to be co-manager, albeit one that was allowed to miss practice if he was busy.

However, Kise was not one to follow such decree. He was going to outright refuse, but before the words left his mouth, Kurokocchi looked at him with those pleading blue eyes. He couldn't refuse his first friend after all.

Additionally a message in red paper threatening to reveal the assault on the a certain silver-haired bully suddenly appeared in his locker, it was another form of bullying, the 'hate message.' Basketball players were bullies. Kise supposed he wouldn't be in trouble seeing that he did nothing, but the thought of his fangirls suffering were too much. They helped and endured so much for him, it was only right to reciprocate.

Orders for him to cook were made through Kurokocchi and whilst he did complained about the work they were making him do, it was actually fun. Acting and modeling were enjoyable but it was rare to see the same face twice once the project was over.

To increase the club popularity, Akashi even introduced the 'Food from Kise Ryouta' scheme, a lucky draw for outsiders to be served with food made by Kise. The scheme caused much delight to fanpeople around the world and spectators in Teikou matches, even practice ones reached an all time high.

Acting and modelling still took priority but he always visited the gym when he was free. It must be because Kurokocchi was there, seeing that he could not feel any good feeling towards the sports or the ganguro.

Never let it be said that Kise did not hold grudges. He held one like a mother held her newborn child.

Even though his fangirls curb stomped the silver haired bully, whose name Kise did not care to remember, he was still quite annoyed that he was nearly punched. He was further outraged by how the silver-haired bully kept on stealing Kurokocchi's food. It was unacceptable.

Through Momocchi, he learnt that the silver head favourite food was kaarage. Every time kaarage appeared on the list of requested food, he would invite Momocchi to his house as he supervised her cooking to ensure that his kitchen remain intact. He also kept a regular supply of poisonous kaarage to add into Kurokocchi's bento every time the bully drew near.

The evil bully never touched Kurokocchi's bento again after he missed 2 weeks of school from diarrhoea. Kise interpreted Kurokocchi's gesture of remaining silent as he drank his milkshake whilst the bully ate the poisonous kaarage as a small sign of thanks.

His scheme was quite a success judging from the glint of fear in the silver-haired boy every time Kise brought in his cooking.

Kise congratulated himself for such an ingenious scheme.

* * *

Kurokocchi always carried a book with him, the most common book being 'The Art of Manipulating the Gaze.' Strangely psychological books were added to the 'books which Kurokocchi carries around' list.

Apparently Kurokocchi said that he had to improve with the basketball team in order to keep up with the team's ever growing potential. And whilst Kurokocchi had said that these psychological books improved his basketball techniques, Kise couldn't see how.

"Was Kise-kun bullied in the past?" Kise truly did not appreciate being the guinea pig to strengthen Kurokocchi's basketball but Kurokocchi was quite spot on.

Kise nod was his answer but Kurokocchi's unnerving stares caused him to explain more.

His beauty was his cross to bear, and it was his looks that caused the bullying. 'Girly face' and other mean things were quite common for him to hear when he was little.

Whilst many remarked that a child's innocence was their greatest gift, Kise disagreed. A child's innocence makes them most capable to violence. It was something that Kise experienced himself when a heavy object, probably a pencil sharpener was flung towards his head. Flinging pencil sharpeners at other people's head was something that only a child would do, though it was possible for adults to if they were facing their nemesis but Kise clearly wasn't anyone's nemesis.

Clearly blood spurted, concussion happened, he was hospitalized and his parents decided on home-schooling until the start of middle school.

Miki-san then met Kise, scouted him and suggested he continued home-schooling for another year to further his modelling instead.

Kise obviously agreed, whilst his parents believed he needed more interactions with people his age, he still could not get over the fear of being assaulted by people his age.

He was happy about his fan followings, it gave him his fangirls troops to keep him safe. Sadly it had not kept him safe when a basketball was flung towards his head causing him to dramatically fall face first towards the ground.

He was in finally in school after years of home-schooling, trying sports which albeit boring were not bodily harmful until he was assaulted in the head during the first week of term by a basketball!

Understandably, his trauma was triggered and basketball was linked to it, or so it was what Kise believed though he may have a little vendetta against the ganguro who flung the ball at his head.

After 7 years of his injury-free life, anything that caused him harm was dangerous.

Why was he voicing out his thoughts to Kurokocchi anyway? Maybe it was because Kurokocchi helped him in his moment of distress without expecting anything in return. Kise had not experienced things like that from anyone other than his parents. And because of that, he wanted Kurokocchi, his first friend to understand him.

"Therefore basketball is quite a dangerous sport and Kurokocchi should pull out." He concluded his rant and Kise had a small hope that his friend might realize the error of his ways in dabbling with the dark sport of basketball.

His hopes were thoroughly dashed when Kurokocchi looked up in understanding and firmly said. "Basketball is a fun and exciting sport, Kise-kun will see."

The only thing he saw was Kurokocchi's large degree of self-delusion. Perhaps basketball was a sport that not only brought pain to the body but also brought corruption to the mind as well. It was a sport of senseless communist-like indoctrination! That must be the cause of a basketball player's weirdness.

Kurokocchi's ghostlike habit, ganguro's bullying tendencies, Murasakibara-kun's snacks addition and his desires to crush classmates, Midorima-kun's tendencies to bring in weird items and the Akashi-kun's 'I'll do anything to win' attitude must have been generated by the evils of basketball.

Even people not playing it were affected, take Momocchi for example. It clearly was basketball that allowed her cooking to be so poisonous. All examples pointed towards a logical conclusion that basketball was a dangerous sport. Albeit a conclusion that came too late as his friends were already brainwashed by said sport.

It was rather like 'Romeo and Juliet,' a movie Kise had just acted in. Basketball was like the always-existing tension between the Montagues and Capulets, brewing there, ready to blow. A menace that caused corruption to those who were drawn in by it.

Okay, perhaps Kise was being a little too dramatic but Kurokocchi was always too dramatic about the sports as well and so dramatization was his only way of retaliation.

His rant had probably angered the god of basketball when a basketball was flung towards his head by the ganguro.

"Kise-kun, Joseph Wolpe and Aletha Solter said that facing your fears is the best way to counter them." Kurokocchi said in a academic way with references to people Kise did not know but immediately disliked. He was not pleased that Kurokocchi was using him to test out psychological theory. Hmpff!

* * *

Favs, Follow Reviews if you like it. Love to hear what you think

Mickey


	2. Chapter 2

Pulling Pigtails 2

Disclaimers: I do not own Kuroko no Basuke.

* * *

June came and Teikou's annual school festival approached.

The festival was a celebration to the end of the mid-term exams. Kise's exams weren't exactly top-notch but he was rather certain that he would pass. Besides, Miki-san said his rising popularity would even make the headmaster kowtow to make him stay.

Teikou's Riddle club had two presidents. One was Kokou-san, who was also the president of his fan club. The other was Kanawa-san, who was also the president of the Akashi-sama Appreciation Association.

Apparently the Riddle club was organizing a paired-up stamp rally and Kokou-san wanted him to have to be the MC. Kokou-san had no doubt in his abilities to bring in participants. He was going to say no as he had his class's event as well but Kise thought about how she had dealt with the silver-haired bully for him and said 'yes,' every good deed deserved their reward.

Kanawa-san seemed to disagree, mumbling about loss of Aoki if Kise was the MC and not a participant. Kise was not the best with names but he sure had not heard of the name 'Aoki' before. Kokou-san squealed but then whispered out "sacrifice had to be made in order to increase participants even if that was Aoki."

The two then had a heated debate about shipping, something that he did not quite understand because middle-school students should not own any legal business ventures. Telling them he'll be at the event, he quickly left before the debate could escalate.

* * *

The festival came and Kise was dressed up as Oscar from 'The Rose of Versailles' for their class' cosplay event. It was a concept he simply did not understand as Oscar was a girl who pretended to be a guy. He supposed his double cross-dressing was still better than Murasakibaracchi's normal cross-dress with frills and all. Murasakibaracchi's was apparently Marie-Antoinette.

A dressed up Kise however, worked wonders. Their class cosplay photo-shoot became the school's most visited attraction and when noon neared, he was deadly tired.

He wanted to visit Kurokocchi's class' butler café but he was not one to break promises, hence the rapid dash towards the Riddle's club podium in the sports field.

When Kise reached the podium, he was greatly disturbed by how a pair basketball shoes was labelled as the tournament's first prize. Supporting the contest made him feel as if he'd somehow committed a faux pas, a sacrilege against peace, especially when basketball was such an aggressive sport. The prize was a ganguro's bait if the commotion caused by the kurosuke ganguro was any indication.

Other than that, all was well. Numerous couples were lining up to participate in the events; sadly the numbers of fangirls screaming for Kise greatly outnumbered the participants.

In a swift stroke of genius to garner participants, Kokou-san quickly created an additional prize, the prize for the most interesting pair.

Said prize being a kiss from Kise Ryouta elicited screams from his horde of fangirls whilst the girl-girl pairing in the event skyrocketed. Kise looked at her in shock, she looked back and whispered a "please, just the forehead's fine,' which caused Kise to sighed in relent and nodded.

The ganguro was still causing a commotion by having a tug-o-war with Momocchi with Kurokocchi as the rope. It was clear to him that the ganguro was trying to steal Kurokocchi from Momocchi, after all, not one would want to partner themselves with a ganguro. And oh! This was his chance to get the ganguro back for all those basketballs that injured his head.

"Everyone! Please line up in your pair." He said through the microphone and his fangirls immediately followed. Turning towards the registration table he continued.

"Please put down the name Kuroko Tetsuya and Momoi Satsuki as a pair." Turning to Momocchi, he gave her his thumbs up and she returned it with girth.

"Also, this is a paired event so if you're not in a pair you'll be immediately disqualified!" The frustrated look from the ganguro as he saw Kise's smirk was worth everything.

"Also, we'll start in 30 seconds." He added.

No, he did not expect the ganguro the suddenly dashed up to the podium in extreme speed, grabbed the microphone from Kise's hand, grabbed Kise and said "Mind if I borrow him for the event."

"Yes!" Screamed Kise because he minded and he was the M.C on top of other things. Kokou-san looked dazed and Kanawa-san looked awestricken.

"He stole my partner so he should take responsibility right?" The ganguro made a bad attempt at reasoning. Kise was the M.C, the was the game controller and his word was law. He wasn't stealing anyone's partner, thank you very much.

"He's all yours." Kanawa-san apparently was an easy bargaining target.

"I'm not playing!" Kise's desperate screams went unheard and he was manhandled towards the field for the first game. His fangirls weren't helping him. Somehow they suddenly all turned traitor and were screaming "Aoki!" Kise decided he didn't like this Aoki guy as this Aoki guy was apparently stealing away his personal army.

* * *

Within moments he was on the starting line with his legs tied to the ganguro's for the three-legged race, the first of the 5 stages of the competition.

"Why do I have to be with you." He grumbled in resignation. Aoki destroyed all his support and no one was helping him.

"Oh come on, I'm not that bad." Kurosuke ganguro said with his usual lackluster girth.

"You are." He deadpanned. "Why are we paired up anyway. Don't you see that everyone else is in a boy-girl pairing. The fact that all the girl-girl pairs disappeared the moment you dragged me into this is economically destructive."

"What are you? A marketing expert?" Ganguro asked in a rather pitying tone and whilst Kise might have caught some of his manager's marketing quirks, it was no reason for the additional name calling.

Kise simply made a "hmpff" sound.

"Why are you complaining anyway. Aren't I good enough for you?" Drawled the ganguro in an uncaring tone but there were shades of doubts within his voice.

Doubts were something that shouldn't be related to the tanned boy and Kise supposed he was doing charity when he said.

"I suppose you're tolerable." And no, that did not mean anything other than the fact that the blue-haired boy might be useful in attaining Kise the victory in the stamp rally. Just out of spite for the competition of course.

His answer blew all trace of doubts from the ganguro's face and Kise would have regretted saying it if it wasn't for the wide grin on the bluenette's face.

"Since you have no more complaints, lets win this! I want those LeBrons." Whoever LeBron was, Kise did not share the sentiment.

The match started as the gun fired and Kise wanted to groan in frustration. Whoever thought up this stupid two-legged race was a truly vile person.

"You're so slow." Kurosuke ganguro complained from his side and Kise had the urge to forcefully smack the bluenette. However, his good sense of sportsmanship prevailed and he simply ran faster.

Somehow it was more like a running race between him and the ganguro rather than a co-operative race against the other pairs. The finishing line was in front of him when he was suddenly shoved to the side by the tanned boy. He would've returned the shove in full force if he hadn't heard the screams that resonated behind him.

"And I forgot to mention that there are traps within the field. If you're caught in those traps then you will be disqualified." Said his displacement M.C.

Kise was still in a daze. If he hadn't been shoved away, he would've fallen into the hole, the hole which the team behind them fell into.

"Thanks." He mumbled.

"Welcomed but you're still too slow." Replied the ganguro and Kise's previous good thoughts about him disappeared in an instant.

* * *

The second segment of the competition was held in the audiovisual room. To pass the second stage, the participants had to correctly answer one of the question asked by the quizmaster.

They entered the room before anyone but by the 68th question, they still could not correctly answered one. Kise wondered how he was supposed to know the name of Japan's 'largest garden' or whatever.

Ganguro Kurosuke was greatly annoyed when Momocchi and Kurokocchi entered the room and easily passed the room after they correctly answered the question on some book author's name.

"Damn it Kise, aren't you supposed to be part of the riddle club?"

"I was just asked to be the M.C and I was going to improvise the script." Kise felt the need to justify and the ganguro simply grunted.

"Louis XIV had many mistresses, name one which later became the duchess of Vajours." Was the 69th question that the blonde had been waiting for, he'd acted as Louise XIV after all.

He was rather horrified when he saw that the ganguro had wrote 'bitch' down as the answer. Quickly snatching back the board as the ganguro said, "what? Women stealing married men are bitches," Kise fixed the answer to "Louise de La Valierre." Which got them the pass out of the room.

* * *

"Please randomly pick one of these cards." Said the girl who was the organizer of the third round, the borrowed item race.

Before he could pick one, ganguro swiped his hand and picked up a card.

Kise leaned over and saw that the card said 'Heroically rescue the damsel in distress.'

"What the hell is this" Was all that the ganguro could manage.

It was quite obvious to Kise who was the brain of the group.

"We obviously have to find a damsel in distress and rescue her in front of the judge in the judging table over there."

He was immediately dragged over to the judging table, his cries of "teme! What are you doing?" Went unheard.

The girl who was the judge looked at them with interest as ganguro pointed his finger towards Kise's group of cheering fangirls and Kise understood the ganguro's evil intent.

"I refuse to sacrifice my fanpeople, they are important to me even if they betrayed me for Aoki." He said and the ganguro grunted in annoyance.

At that moment Momocchi and Kurokocchi entered the room, apparently chased by Murasakibaracchi and Midorima-kun, who was screaming "give me back my lucky item!"

Their speed was rather fast as Kise could not dodge in time as Murasakibaracchi crashed into him.

He closed his eyes, ready for his face to impact the ground. Strangely that did not happen and he heard sounds of squealing from the judge and his group of fanpeople.

He opened his eyes to find himself in the arms of the ganguro who asked "are you alright?"

Kise simply nodded as he was still in the state of confusion though the judge suddenly screamed "passed!"

He looked up at the ganguro who slowly placed him down but smirked a smug smile and Kise wondered what just happened.

* * *

The fourth round was held in the multi-functional auditorium. It was a haunted house stylized maze and Kise wondered how it had anything to do with the riddle club.

Darkness covered the inside of the auditorium with only a few dim places where the pale coloured ray of lights shone. The music was strange and creepy and Kise wanted to get out.

Momocchi was in front of them and he could see her latching on to Kurokocchi. Kise wanted to latch on to Kurokocchi too because latching on to the ganguro would just be weird.

The maze did its jobs and soon he couldn't see Momocchi anymore.

After one left turn, something fell onto him. It was slimy and it felt as if it was crawling on him. It was like a worm and Kise hated worms.

"Wahhhhhhhhh! Ganguro, ganguro, Aomine! Get it off me, get it off me!" He screamed as he flailed around.

The next moment, Aomine shoved his hand down Kise's shirt and pulled out the slimy thing. The slimy thing was actually homemade gelatin which made Kise sticky and dirty but he was glad that it wasn't a worm.

The ganguro rudely laughed hysterically and said "That's the first time you called me by my name. Maybe I'll have to buy some of these."

Karma was fast and by the next turn there was a buzzing sound of bees around them.

The ganguro latched on to Kise like a Koala as he cried "get them away from me, get them away from me!" Kise slowly navigated their way out of the bee's corner.

"Lets not talk about what happened in there." Was something that he fully agreed with the ganguro as they finally left the maze.

Exiting the auditorium he saw Kurokocchi and Momocchi running towards the second sports field, the destination of the final round.

"Tetsu! Satsuki! Stop right there!" Yelled the ganguro but no one followed. Ganguro then grabbed him by the hand and Kise was manhandled yet again as he was dragged towards the second sports field.

Reaching the field, the final game was revealed the be the 3-legged race yet again.

Their legs were quickly tied and they set off.

"Kise! Run faster!"

Kise wanted to smack the ganguro because he was running his fastest already. It wasn't his fault that the ganguro was some kind of mutant that could move so fast. He used his annoyance as adrenaline and gave his body its last push.

They were next to Kurokocchi and Momocchi one instance, they passed Kurokocchi and Momocchi the next then suddenly the ground below them crumbled and the four of them fell into a stupid hole.

He thought it would hurt more but something cushioned his fall, something soft was also touching his lips. Opening his eyes, he found his lips touching the Ganguro's who flushed red. Kise felt his heartbeat quickened and realized that he must be as red.

"Wahh/Ahh." Were the sound that elicited from Momocchi and Kurokocchi respectively.

The next moment the gunshot rang and the winners were decided.

Still shocked and flustered. Kise climbed out of the stupid hole that they were stuffed in, not caring how his nails might be damaged and ran away.

* * *

He was lying on the field, staring dazedly at the reddening sky, pondering about his stirring emotions as he thought of his first kiss. His first kiss that was lost to the kurosuke ganguro of all people. Damn it!

His confused thoughts came to a halt when the face of the ganguro appeared before him, looking unaffected by their previous kiss. He blinked, blinked again and the ganguro was still there.

"Oi Kise, Tetsu said we should have dinner together in his secret hiding place." Kise wanted to say no, he wasn't ready for this but Kurokocchi did invite him and all.

"Fine." He sighed as he stood and followed the ace.

They entered the school's old building before they made way to the rooftop. Kise asked if they were even allowed inside but his reasonable question went unanswered.

The door to the rooftop opened and Kise's doubts disappeared. He was enchanted by the scenery before him.

"This is my favourite scenery." Kurokocchi confessed as he sat down on the flood and lay out the yakisoba, which apparently was their congratulatory prize.

The three of them followed but Kise's eyes were still set on the setting sun.

"This really is amazing," said the kurosuke ganguro next to Kise and he nodded his agreement.

Momocchi was whispering something in Kurokocchi's ears as Kise thought about the day. It was fun, he decided. It was a tiring day and there were strange moments but it was fun and it wouldn't have happened if the ganguro hadn't drag him into the stamp rally.

"Thanks for pulling me into the stamp rally. I haven't had as much fun for a long while." He mumbled quietly but the ganguro seemed to have heard him if his smile was any indication. Kise personally thought the smile was a trick of light, someone who bullied him on a daily basis couldn't give such a sincere smile right?

"This changes nothing though." Kise added softly.

"Wouldn't want it any other way." Replied the ganguro.

Watching the sun slowly bled its way into the earth was a sight that the 4 of them would always remember.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimers: I do not own KnB

* * *

June the 17th was a tiring day.

When Miki-san asked whether Kise was free on the day before his birthday he should have said 'no.' But since he'd said 'yes,' Miki-san had launched a raffle campaign where 30 specials tickets were hidden within Kise's newly released photo book. The winners were to celebrate Kise's 'pre-birthday event.'

Before Kise could even questioned what a 'pre-birthday event' was, his photo book was sold out the day that it was launched.

And whilst staying with his fans were enjoyable, entertaining 30 of them at the same time was not an easy task, entertaining them until late at night was a colossal task.

It was 10:30pm and and after tearful farewells from his fans, Kise was sleeping in the car as Miki-san drove him home.

Traffic was a chore and by the time Kise got home it was nearly midnight.

He got off the car, walked passed the lawn, got to his house and realized it was locked. He turned back and realized Miki-san had already drove away. Kise was still rational at that moment and called his parents who did not pick up his call. He was scared a little as he then called his sisters who did not pick up his calls as well. He was rather frantic when Miki-san refused to pick up his calls as well.

Suddenly the door opened and after several pops Kise's body was covered in confetti.

"Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday happy birthday. Happyyyy Birthdayyy to you." It was dark inside his house but Kise saw the figures that sang as they walked up to him.

"Kurokocchi!" Kise said as he finally made out who the figures were. In the centre was Kurokocchi, a large cake was in his hands, a 'Happy 14th Birthday' was stylized on top of the cake. Beside Kurokocchi stood Momocchi on one side and surprisingly the Ganguro was standing on the other. Behind them were his two sisters and his parents. He felt someone standing behind him, turned back and realized it was Miki-san.

"Happy 14th Birthday Kise/Kise-kun/Kise/Ki-chan" They all uttered and Kise was overwhelmed. Before middle school he'd never had friends his own age and Kise had never expected them to arrange things with his parents and Miki-san just to set a up a surprise birthday for him. He'd never thought that 'friends' would do this much for him. He felt his eyes moistened and he ran over and glomped Kurokocchi. The cake would've fallen if Momocchi and Gangu-Aomine hadn't caught it in time.

After they moved themselves to the living room, Kurokocchi handed him a card before they started having the cake.

"It's from the club." Kurokocchi explained.

Kise opened it and recognized Kurokocchi's writing which read 'thank you for your hard efforts in making those milkshakes. In return I'll help Kise-kun get over your fear of basketball so that Kise-kun could know that it's a fun sports. And while Kise-kun can be annoying at times, I appreciate having Kise-kun as a friend. Happy Birthday.' Kise smiled, Kurokocchi could be mean and nice at the same time.

Happy Birthday, you're always funny with you overreactions. lets play basketball when you finally get over your fears! :P' was written next to that in messy handwriting and knew it was the ganguro. Kise was definitely _not_ overreacting about anything, he also did not fear basketball, the sport was simply dangerous and was unsafe for him but he was emotional at the moment so he said nothing and read on.

'Happy Birthday Ki-chan! It's been great to have you as co-manager. You still have to teach me how to cook since all you do is keep what I cook and then give them to Dai-chan and Haizaki-kun' was written in pink

'Great work. You've done all you can as co-manager' was written in green letters. ' near it said 'Happy Birthday Kise-chin. Thank you for all the Maiubos. I want more Maiubos,' in purple. Next to that was 'Kise, you've done a great job this year as co-manager. Thank you for all your co-operation. Happy Birthday,' was succinct, to the point and defined Akashi. Finally was 'As you captain, I'm grateful for all your delicious cooking. Happy Birthday and keep up the good work,' which translates in the word of Nijimura-senpai as 'bring me more fried rice.'

There were other small comments like 'Happy Birthday, have a great one' and everything as well but they were from the club members he didn't know so he skipped them. Kurokocchi probably forced them to write in anyway.

Looking up he saw the parents, sisters, Kurokocchi, ganguro and Momocchi holding out his presents.

His parents gave him a laptop, his sisters have him articles of clothing which they designed. There was a yellow frog porcelain which Kurokocchi said was from Midorima who in turn said it was not a present but a 'lucky item.'

Kise rolled his eyes at what Kurokocchi got him. It was a pair of white basketball shoes. "I'm sure that Kise will be playing basketball soon." Kise wasn't sure but he was thankful for the present.

His final present was a pair of silver earrings. "Dai-chan and chose it and I thought it will look nice on Ki-chan so we bought it." Momocchi explained hers and ganguro's present for him. Kise wasn't sure whether it was bullying or not since the ganguro was giving him earrings. He admitted it was nice though.

"Thank you everyone!" He said, smiling at his friends, even at the ganguro when it was time to leave.

Before the door fully closed, a basketball impacted his head and he heard the ganguro said, "my extra present for you."

They left and his mum said "It's nice to have friends right Ryouta?"

He nodded as he hugged her.

The basketball team wasn't so bad as long as he did not have to play.

After all, it was his best birthday to date.

* * *

The next day he felt the pain of having his ear pierced and decided that one ear was enough.

The basketball shoes Kurokocchi gave him was nicely lay on the shoe rack but Kise was leaving it as furniture.

The basketball the ganguro threw at him was kept in the darkest corner of his bedroom.

He took the yellow porcelain frog to school and his schoolwork rather than his films were praised by his teachers all day.

"Man proposes and god disposes. With your Oha Asa lucky item, you are doing everything you can." Midorima explained and Kise thought that it was one strangely weird but apparent true and cool belief and named him Midorimacchi much to his dismay.

* * *

Head coach Shirogane entered as the Nationals drew near and made Akashi captain.

It was a known fact that Kise had the ability to replicate anything he saw once if it was within his physical prowess. His early months of joining random sports club earned him the name 'ace stealing' as he was stealing the ace positions within weeks before quitting those various sports.

He learnt later that the silver-haired bully had a similar ability, although his was limited to basketball, which clearly told Kise that bullies abilities were sub par.

As he was giving Kurokocchi his daily dose of Vanilla milkshake, head coach Shirogane approached and asked him whether he would be interested in joining the basketball team.

His answer was a clear "no" and when Kurokocchi tried to object he gave his friend another glass of Vanilla goodness which the light blue haired boy took and stopped talking.

"I'm quite happy being co-manager with Momocchi." He added and he truly did. Being the co-manager allowed him to be with his friends without playing basketball. He wouldn't even touch the round menace if it weren't for the ganguro who kept throwing balls at his head. It was quite frustration when the ganguro kept on catching the balls he threw back.

Besides, he really was getting more and more busy. His popularity continued to grow and their were offers for him to star in an international film. It was quite impossible, seeing that he still pronounced perfect as paafecto. To rectify this Miki-san bought it loads and loads of English film ranging from telletubbies to rated films. Kise was forced to copy them all perfectly to the point that he could perfectly role-play a telletubby. Miki-san was a tyrant and that was all there was to it.

Basketball became more dramatized, as if it wasn't already quite dramatic, it was as Kise had always thought, basketball was a severe sport.

Midorimacchi and Murasakibaracchi became corrupted by basket and started fighting. Luckily he was there to help. By uttering "I'll stop making red bean soup and I'll stop bringing unreleased Maiubos if you don't stop," the argument between Midorimacchi and Murasakibaracchi ended immediately. Food bribery was effective like that. Momocchi looked at him in awe and again asked him to teach her cooking. _Again_, the attempt failed as gas leakage was blamed for the fire in the school's cafeteria.

Though not all could be fixed with food.

The National preliminaries started and after a game where Teikou tripled the score, the ganguro started acting strange.

To Kise, ganguro kurosuke would always be a blob of cheerfulness whilst playing basketball; the smile would always be there. Yet lately, it wasn't there. His occasional lack of practices were also seen and felt clearly by Kise when no balls impacted his head.

Kurokocchi probably had the same revelation and decided to take action and the ganguro returned to practice the next day. Kise asked how Kurokocchi did it and his friend said.

"I stuck a popsicle down his shirt."

Kise was mystified.

* * *

The Nationals championship began and as they made their way inside the stadium, the were bombarded by news reporter.

More than half of the news reporter were not that interested in basketball. Apparently once news got out that Kise would be there, the stadium soon became a place for fan meetings and news reporting.

Of course Kise was a professional and when asked with questions like, "Is it true that your next movie will be the Rose of Versailles?" He simply replied with "I'm sorry but I'm not allowed to leak confidential information" and smiled his best grin.

Kise personally accredited himself for the team's early rounds winning streak.

The team weren't playing as well as they usually did. Nijimura-senpai told him that it was the pressure of keeping the champion's throne from last year.

Kise wasn't encouraging basketball or anything. It was just that Kurokocchi looked so tired after the games and Kise, as the co-manager of the club, had to take matters into his own hands.

One shout of "Go! Teikou!" from him started a wave of "Go! Teikou!" of cheers from the spectators as they were mostly his fangirls who was there to cheer for him even though he didn't play the nasty sport itself.

'The Kise-sama cheering troop' damaged Teikou's opponents' morale were damaged beyond repair and soon the pressure on Teikou disappeared to thin air.

* * *

It happened during the match against Kamizaki Middle School.

Ganguro suddenly got severely depressed throughout a game when their opponents got rude by losing their fighting spirit. Kise wanted to walk into the court and shake him until he smile his annoying smirk but it was impossible when the ganguro refused to do the usual fist bump with Kurokocchi and gave Kurokocchi an extreme case of depression.

Kurokocchi was his friend whilst ganguro was his bully. He chose the obvious choice to remain with his friend and futilely tried to remedy his friend's mental stress with the 'Kise's homemade vanilla milkshake' after ganguro left the court. Kurokocchi gave give a smile as if to say thank you but Kise was in enough films to know that it wasn't a true smile.

Teikou was on a winning streak with the ganguro's new ability to throw the some weird formless shoots but Kurokocchi got more and more depressed. The milkshakes weren't working anymore and Kise felt rather useless.

Coach Shirogane saw his coddling and told Kise that Kurokocchi should would get better in time. Kise hope in was true as nothing he did was cheering his friend up.

The final match with Kamata West revealed to the world the evils of basketball.

The twins from Kamata West were a pair of cheaters. Ganguro got agitated when he was forced into his fourth foul and Kise wanted the twins to pay retribution. It was quite easy as the moment he shouted 'cheater!' Kise-kun/sama's fan clubs in the stadium reciprocated and followed his chant. Soon the stadium became a requiem demanding the twins' retribution. The referee, blind man that he was, refused to accept universal demand for justice even when the country was a democracy and simply declared a time-out. Kise was less than pleased.

It worked though as Teikou made an awesome comeback at the end. The twins were probably shivering nonstop the moment their requiem of doom started, hence caused them to play quite terribly at the end.

Kise supposed ganguro's better mental state after his talk with Coach Shirogane and Kurokocchi helped as well.

Nevertheless, the team won. Kurokocchi was happy, ganguro was happy, Momocchi was happy, Murasakibaracchi, Midorimacchi and Akashi were also happy. Even his hated silver-haired boy whose name his still deigned to unimportant to remember seemed quite cheerful.

Kise let out a smile.

It was a nice way to end school before the summer break.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimers: I do not own KnB

* * *

Kise auditioned for his roles in films, contrary to his fans belief that his handsomeness instantly casted him roles.

Roles in international film were exponentially more difficult to auditioned for, partly due to accents and partly due to the greater amount of competition. It therefore required more work and practice.

It was the reason why he was now assessing various films with Miki-san.

It was Kise's hobby of observing people that obtained him the title of 'prodigy' in the modeling and acting industry. Kurokocchi observed people to determine his own actions, Kise observed people to see if he could perfectly mimic them. Mix and matching various people habits or techniques to create a matching result was fun like that.

Miki-san was in turn pleased with his acting skills.

His accents on the other hand wasn't so perfect. His manager wasn't please at the perfect "Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Lala, Po~" sound he made. It really wasn't Kise's fault that films like 'Elizabeth the Golden Age' made him fall asleep via their slow and small talks.

Miki-san was a tyrant and his first month of summer break were spent learning the Queen's English. And since Miki-san knew that Kise often fell asleep when faced with the Queen's English, he was always there to regulate those practice sessions.

His manager also forced him to expand his acting repertoire by watching various genres instead of the only ones he liked. They then went to random places and analyzed random people's movement before Miki-san demanded a demonstration of those actions.

The deeper aspects of acting became interesting. How a single drop of tear could enhance the emotions expressed within a single a scene was something that intrigued Kise.

It became fun to film himself, watch it, have Miki-san criticize it then re-act the scene again with other techniques combinations to achieve a better result.

He felt his interest tingle, it was the tingle that came every time he started a new sport, tingles that disappeared once there were no competitions for him.

This time it didn't disappear, didn't disappear because there were no timeframe to achieve victory in and didn't disappear because he was his own adversary.

It was like a game of sorts. And although it wasn't as fun as the sports he initially tried, it was a never-ending game where he continuously compete with his own achievements and wouldn't be bored to death by the end.

"You're ready for the audition. We're flying to Paris next week." Miki-san said the moment he decided that Kise had a good enough accent and a big enough move pool of techniques.

* * *

Of course he made time for Kurokocchi even with all the practices Miki-san made him do.

Hence the reason he was being dragged towards the ganguro's house on the day before his flight.

"It's Aomine-kun's birthday so Kise-kun should give your present to him yourself." Said Kurokocchi. Yes, he prepared a present, though it was only because the ganguro gave him one and all. He didn't want to give it directly so he asked Kurokocchi to do it.

Kurokocchi, bad friend that he was, refused, then forced Kise to go with him.

* * *

The ganguro wasn't home. Kise found the ganguro and Momocchi playing street basketball against an unknown group of boys. Kise was rather shocked that Momocchi was actually playing.

Kurokocchi decided to play along with them while Kise refused the invitation and chose to just watch.

They played and played and played and by the time the other group of boys left it was late in the afternoon. The three turned towards him and their gaze told him that they were all expecting something.

"Oi Kise, I'm hungry." The ganguro said and Kise nearly growl 'so what' back, but Kurokocchi made a soundless 'birthday, birthday' mouth movement and caused him to relent.

As they were walking back Kise was filled with requests from "Oi Kise! I want teriyaki burgers," to "Kise-kun, please make some vanilla shakes," to "Ki-chan, can you make some cherry pies?" He didn't bother complaining that their request were so diverse since he knew that they weren't going to listen either way.

He also couldn't believe that the ganguro hadn't noticed the bag he was holding.

The ganguro's parents weren't home when they all got back. Kise quickly checked the fridge to find his needed ingredients and started cooking and baking. Kurokocchi and ganguro played more basketball-related stuffs whilst Momocchi helped Kise in the kitchen, and by helped I meant that Kise had to supervised her every action. He still couldn't believe that a clever girl like Momocchi nearly added salt into the milkshake.

By the time he was finished, there was a bowl of milkshake, tens of teriyaki burgers and a cherry cake.

They ate his cooking in Euphoria and when all the teriyaki burgers were eaten the ganguro asked. "What's in that bag?"

He didn't say anything and mere walked back to the kitchen, ignoring the blunette shouting "Oi! Where are you going?"

He walked back with the cake that was lighted with candles then walked to the Ganguro.

"Happy Birthday Aomine." He said alongside Kurokocchi and Momocchi. The ganguro grinned, probably because Kise used his actual name and blew the candles.

He then placed the cake on the table and gave the ganguro his present. Ganguro, being the childish ganguro that he was immediately unwrapped the present and shouted "Whoaaa! It's a LeBron!"

Then ganguro, being the child that he was, hugged Kise then immediately put on the shoes and ran outside. No, Kise would never confess that the hug felt warm and that it secretly pleased him to see his present so admired.

Momocchi and Kurokocchi shook their head in resignation, apparently the Ganguro was too excited and forgot that he still had more presents to unwrap.

Ganguro's parents returned as they were having the cake. They ate some and became engulfed in the euphoric taste. The moment Mrs. Aomine knew Kise made the cake she said "What I wouldn't give to have Kise-kun as my in law."

"Daiki needs to marry someone who can cook like this." Mr. Aomine added and Kise did not know whether those were compliments or not. Could bullying in the form of name calling be hereditary?

Their conversation ended when Miki-san called, telling Kise to go over the script they had practiced and that he would be coming over to pick Kise up.

Of course a basketball hit him before he left. Turning around he growled at ganguro.

"Can I ask for one for thing?" Kise should've expected this. Gluttons like the ganguro would be greedy for gift as well.

"What?" He asked back, only because his kindness was overwhelming.

"Can you stop the ganguro thing?" Somehow the ganguro looked abashed, blushed a little then continued. "I want you to call me by my name. Is it too much?"

Kise wanted to say 'yes, it is' but it was a special occasion. And ... The ganguro wasn't as much of a bully as Kise initially thought, _sometimes_ Kise even had fun with him.

"Fine. Aomine."

"Thanks for everything." replied a grinning bluenette said.

* * *

Kise was sticking close to Miki-san. Not knowing French could be scary when he was in France. His manager spoke fluent French and therefore was Kise's weapons against language barriers.

Miki-san however saw his pathetic state and "I'll have you study French once we get back," and Kise wanted to cry. After Miki-san discovered his swift process in English he decided that Kise should use his copying skills productively and learn more languages.

On the good side, Miki-san wasn't forcing him to do Math or Science and its like. His copying skills could copy how people talk and move and all but it could not copy their mental calculation. Obviously because he couldn't see how the brain moves or work or whatever.

A large dome-like building was the place for his audition.

"You can do it." Miki-san said as Kise was given a number card and was told to enter the waiting room.

There were many people inside, most of them were older than him, nearly all of them looked terribly stressed and Kise couldn't help but feel the pressure.

"Kise Ryouta, number 144." Called the audition assistant. He stood up, breathed out the pressure and walked into the audition room. It was his time.

Inside were 2 men and 3 women across a desk. The other than them, the desk and the chairs, the room was incredible hollowed.

He was auditioning for the role of Hans Axel von Fersen in the Rose of Versailles, a Hollywood film that was to be filmed in France. It was a story about decadence and inequality in imperial France, focusing on Oscar, a girl who was raised as a boy and became the Dauphine's captain of the imperial guard.

Hans Axel von Fersen was a Swedish Aristocrat who visited Versailles and became involved in an affair with the Dauphine and Oscar. A man who struggled between nobility and love.

He channeled the walk, the posture, the looks, the speech and the accent that he memorized from the various film he watched to create what he thought would be the perfect portrayal of the Swedish aristocrat.

The room was silent as he finished his audition. The pleased look on the judges told him he probably did well. He said his thank you but before he left the room, a woman, labeled as 'Claudia Himuro' said "wait."

He was surprised when they asked if he knew Oscar's line. He nodded, most of Fersen's lines were with Oscar after all. They told him to act that out and he did, mimicking the voice and posture of many others, he created his Oscar. They all made eye smiles as he finished and asked him to stay in the waiting room.

Soon Miki-san entered the waiting room with the five judges.

"Would you be opposed to wearing a dress?" Asked one the judges and Kise feared that basketball bullying also exist in the world of acting. Why were they asking him that anyway. Sure, they asked him to auditioned for Oscar but it must be because they wanted to see his skills. After all, Oscar was a female role right?

He turned towards Miki-san who said "Your choice," and shook his head. He'd tolerate the director's hazing if he had to. He'd already survived the ganguro's hazing so this shouldn't be that much of a problem.

"And would you be opposed to kissing another guy?" Their next inquiry shocked Kise.

"Er-Er. I'll be a little opposed." He said as the glared at the ground, angry that his mind recalled the time his lips touched the ganguro's.

The five of them had some discussion turned back then turned back to Kise.

"Kise Ryouta, you're casted as Oscar. We'll film the Summer parts now but we'll need you back again during the Winter and Spring for the rest of the shoot."

Apparently the girls and women auditioning for Oscar were too 'girly' for the judges/director's taste and apparently Kise was beautiful enough to play Oscar who crossdressed in all but one scene.

It was how Kise starred in his first international film wearing bras supported by breast pads.

* * *

The first shoot took longer than expected and Kise missed a month of school.

Before he focused on acting and extra modeling, his grades were average. Now he had passable and stellar control over English –courtesy of using the Queen's English for two months, but his other subjects remained abysmal.

He wasn't worried though. Miki-san ensured that he would pass. Being the 'rising prodigious star actor' did that.

However, the basketball team were worried for his sake.

It all started when Momocchi somehow obtained his exams papers. With the exception of English, the rest were riddled with angry red marks which made Kise sad. He was considerably more happy when Momocchi brought out the Aomine's paper and revealed that it was worse than Kise's.

No one listened no matter how much Kise reassured them that even if he fail, he would still pass via the courtesy of this corrupted world.

He ended up in one of Akashi's study session.

"Kise, I shall teach you how to study so listen carefully." The captain said as Midorimacchi protested that Akashi's method of studying was too unique.

"It is a very efficient technique that everyone can use.." Akashi said ignoring Midorimacchi's protest of "Kise, don't count on Akashi methods, it's too unique."

Akashi ignored the vice-captain, brought out a textbook and plowed on. "You simply have to read this once."

Akashi looked at Kise's confused face and continued. "If you study it many times then it's going to take time. If you remember it all in the first time then it would be more efficient. Things that are not listed will not appear in the exam."

Kise was awed but was shocked as well. He didn't fully believe it and decided to ask Akashi things like "what's the second word on page 421."

Akashi immediately became Akashicchi when he correctly answered all those questions.

Sadly Kise could not copy Akashicchi's techniques as he could not see the workings of the captain's brains.

In hindsight, when his mum asked whether she should call back his home tutor, Kise should've said yes. Somehow, somewhere along the way, his house became a studying hub with Midorimacchi as the teacher, Kurokocchi as the helper and Kise and Aomine as students. Momocchi's reasoned that "Even if Ki-chan's not playing and might have shady connections like Akashi-kun, it's better to pass right?"

The study sessions failed spectacularly when maths pie meant blueberry pies, the circumference of a circle became related to the circumference of a milkshake cup whilst photosynthesis with beans meant oshiruko. All in all, it became a gourmet session of sorts.

Midorimacchi felt indebted to the food and gave them all a special pencil known as 'The Pencil of the Lazy God: Rolly Pencil."

Aomine said "What the hell?" But Kise knew that amazing capabilities of lucky item after the porcelain frog event and kept the pencil in a special pen pouch.

He rolled the pencil in every single multiple choice exam and got above average results. He incorporate words he learnt in France like 'Noblesse Oblige,' and 'Raison d'être' into his English essay segment and got the second highest score below Akashicchi and caused Midorimacchi much dismay.

Midorimacchi was visibly pleased when Kise told him that he'll be only making oshiruko and vanilla milkshakes for next week's practice as a thank you gift for Midorimacchi's pencil.

* * *

Everyone was shocked when Head Coach Shirogane collapsed before the Winter break.

Coach Sanada would become Head Coach instead but Kise knew it wouldn't be the same. Coach Kurogane had a deep understanding and relationship with everyone, even Kise. When Kise was sitting alone as Momoi went scouting about in other school he would engage in small talks with Kise. He would ask how's Kise modeling and acting going and other things, it was things which Coach Sanada wouldn't ask.

When they visited Coach Shirogane, he and Momoi was asked to stay once the others left.

Momoi nodded when the coach said "take care of the team in my stead will you?" but Kise didn't know what to do or say. Aomine's sudden growth in the Nationals gave him a sneaking suspicion that something was about to go terribly wrong. How was he supposed to even help when he didn't enjoy the sport, when he only cooked for the team or brought in his own fangirls to support the team.

"I'll try." Was all he could manage. He felt terrible when the Head Coach made a glad smile.

* * *

Winter break began and Kise flew to Paris.

The shooting was interesting though he wouldn't say it was all fun. It took hours for the makeup to be done and that was a daily process.

Kise appreciation of women increased drastically when he was made to wear pads, bras, a tight dress and high heels. Why must French men 200 years ago wear high heels anyway. They caused him unnecessary pain.

After the Winter-shoot, it was decided that a promotional posters and trailers were to be released.

Keeping it as an element of surprise, the director decided to keep Kise's name anonymous until the film's release.

Surpise became shock and rage in their first group outing after the school re-opened.

"That chick really is some hot stuff!" Aomine whistled, taking his eyes off Horikita Mai's photo book to stare at the large billboard depicting Kise in a long blonde wig and supporting a white and blue dress. The caption below read 'Le Rose de la Versailles.'

"Hot enough that I'm willing to overlook her small breast." The bluenette added. They were on their popsicle near school and Kise wanted to smack him with the popsicle but that would expose him as Oscar.

"Aomine-kun, if you haven't realize. That's actually Kise-kun." Kurokocchi spilled his secrets. Kise thought that the makeup and dress would conceal his identity but Kurokocchi's observatory skills were on another level indeed.

"Wahh. Kise-chin's wearing a dress." Murasakibaracchi observed the obvious whilst Midorimacchi seemed to have a headache.

Aomine was now staring at him in shock, his mouth opened a wide O.

Miki-san promptly arrived, parking his car near them.

"Sorry that my fake breasts were too small for your liking!" Kise shouted. He copied Midorimacchi's accurate shoot and threw the popsicle right into the Aomine's cavernous mouth before he quickly got on his manager's car and left.

It was to be their last group outing.

* * *

I supposed the scenes were a bit rushed but I kinda want to reach the main timeline and all OTL - It was rather difficult to write in retrospect to the Japanese term dates and all. It's highly confusing when 1st term begins in March-April.

Mickey


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimers: I do not own KnB

* * *

Kise could sense that the basketball club got gloomier the moment he came back.

The ganguro got more easily pissed and whist he still threw those balls at Kise, the throws lacked their usual playfulness.

Murasakibaracchi got into more arguments with Kurokocchi whilst Akashicchi desperately tried to maintain order.

Kise's food couldn't cure away their troubles anymore.

He slowly felt the team's dedication towards basketball disappear. No one practiced overtime anymore and it was only he, Kurokocchi and Momocchi who were still doing their Popsicle outings.

He still didn't like basketball but he did want them all to be the same.

"Murasakibara-kun was really amazing today. At the same time it frightens me. Watching his sudden growth spurt reminds me of when Aomine-kun changed" Kurokocchi said during one of their outings. Kise felt the same, Momocchi's worried expression told him she held the same fears.

Kise realized that things were terribly wrong when Kurokocchi confessed to not talking to Aomine since the 'Kise-cross-dressing event.'

"We'll always be together right? We'll pass all this and We'll have fun together right?" Momocchi asked, her eyes desperate.

"Yes. We'll always be together." Kurokocchi replied but Kise could tell the lie in his eyes. Kise wanted to fix the problem, to solve this mess, to bring the whole team back together and return to the days where they enjoyed his prepared food and laughed as they ate but he didn't know how. Kurokocchi didn't know how either and Akashicchi was trying his best to keep the team together, yet one thing was clear.

They were falling apart.

* * *

He went back to Paris again for the final shoot, it took longer than expected, especially with the kiss scene he had to do with the another actor called Robert, who Kise thought was handsome but wasn't right for him, thus the amount of time taken to finally perfect the scene.

All of it caused him to missed the first month of his year in middle school.

Miki-san said it was fine since he'd contacted the principle and had told him of Kise's other responsibilities.

Somehow the one-month changed everything within Teikou.

The flight landed early in the evening and after passing through the paparazzi and fans outside, he'd asked Miki-san to drive them to Teikou.

He missed Kurokocchi and basketball practice was where Kurokocchi always was.

Fate wasn't favorable. It was raining and the traffic was disastrous.

As they passed a bridge, he could see a silhouette of a person sitting near the riverbank, upon closer look, it was none other than Aomine.

The curled up look didn't suit the tanned boy and something in Kise stirred in worry.

Asking Miki-san to stop the car, Kise ran out with an umbrella.

Aomine looked up, Probably sensing that he wasn't being rained on anymore, courtesy of Kise's umbrella. His eyes were forlorn but there was a note of surprise in them.

Kise wondered what the hell could have gone wrong within the period of a month.

"Baka-Aomine! Seriously, you do realize that it's raining right? Do you think you're in some romantic music video cause there's no camera anywhere!"

His words drew a chuckle from the still sullen Aomine but Kise really wasn't trying to be funny.

"Anyway, I'm going to Teikou to see Kurokocchi. You should get your shit together and stop sitting in the rain." Kise said as he started walking off but his left leg was caught but Aomine's grubby hand.

"Stay." The tanned boy said and Kise sighed.

"I can't. Practice will be over soon and I might miss Kurokocchi if I don't hurry. You probably just want me for my umbrella right? Tell you what, since I'm feeling kind today so I'll give it to you." He said, tearing Aomine's arm from his ankle before he forced the umbrella into them. Aomine looked guilty at the mention of Kurokocchi but Kise ignored any suspicions.

"I'm sure the rain will clear soon." He said and Aomine looked as if he was going to say something but stopped.

Kise wasted enough time. He quickly ran back to the can and let Miki-san drove him to Teikou.

* * *

"Hello, Hello~, Is anyone still here?" Kise wondered why he was doing such a senseless action like asking for when the lights in the gym were all turned off.

"Kise," Spoke an eerie voice that nearly gave Kise a small heart attack until he realized it was Akashicchi. He thanked the natural dim light of the rainy day that illuminated the room through the windows, if it weren't for them he wouldn't screamed it fears of being attacked by ghosts.

"Uwah, Akashicchi. You frightened me, anyway. I'm here to see Kurokocchi. Is he in the changing room? Or had he left? If he had then it would be so mean of him since I've sent a text to him earlier." He complained as he walked towards the Akashicchi, then realized something was terribly wrong.

Oh course something was wrong. Akashicchi's eyes were not of the same colour! The danger of basketballs were revealing themselves once more. Perhaps Akashicchi had accidently received a basketball to his face and it somehow infected his eyes, turning one of the eyes to the same orange hue of the basketball. Or was this Akashicchi fashion statement. Bi-coloured eyes were rather common in the world of fashion.

The eyes were giving him endless questions which he had to ask.

"Oh my god! Akashicchi, are your eyes infected or are you making a fashion statement?"

Akashicchi's eerie smile was the answer and it unnerved Kise,

It was as if he was speaking to a possessed Akashicchi. His survival instincts told him either to flee in fears of stabbing scissors or change the topic.

"Ahh- never mind, could you tell me where Kurokocchi is?"

"He probably is in the changing room, though perhaps it would be better for you to not see him until he understands that broken plates could not be fixed." Akashicchi said as he walked away.

Was the poetry bit necessary? Why broken plates anyway, Kise thought the broken porcelains would give it a more posh imagery, but again, the Akashicchi he just met was rather weird and bizarre.

It scared him how basketball could inflict the minds of people.

Kise wasn't known to follow much advice, so he headed to the changing room anyway.

* * *

It was not a pleasant sight.

Kurokocchi was sitting on a bench in a hunchback position. Surrounding him was a pile of puddle that Kise believed to have come from playing in the rain.

Remembering Aomine, he thought that perhaps today was such a day where basketball players tried their luck at being dramatic in the rain in hopes of being scouted by the modeling and film agency. Kise hoped not, he did not want more competitions.

He was about to chide Kurokocchi for playing in the rain without inviting him, cause Kise wanted to play in the rain as well, until he realized that Kurokocchi was crying.

Within moments, he was embracing Kurokocchi in a tight hug.

Kurokocchi, resilient child that he was, tried to struggle from Kise whilst mumbling incoherent words, worsened by his crying. Soon realizing the futility of his struggle, he allowed himself into Kise's hug.

They were silent for a long while.

Kise did not know what to say other than to mention Akashicchi's bi-coloured eyes, noting how they might be a form of infection, though he was leaning towards them being a strange fashion statement.

Kurokocchi, in his tears, could still be mean as said that Kise must be mad to think that Akashi was wearing coloured contact lens as a fashion statement.

Kise's mumbling however did managed to calm Kurokocchi down and got him to explain the situation.

The calmness did not last and Kurokocchi resumed crying as he was explaining.

He didn't experience this emotion much, but he was sure it was anger.

Why was everyone like this. How could that ganguro be so inconsiderate to his friend's feelings.

Saying that he couldn't remember Kurokocchi's pass, that he didn't need those passes to win anyway was the same as saying that he didn't need Kurokocchi anyway.

It was mean, and undoubtedly inconsiderate.

Kise could understand Aomine's frustration. Especially when the opponents one was playing against simply gave up and ruined the game, and he could see how much Aomine loved the game, and that the actions would hurt him. But still, what he did to Kurokocchi was a little too much.

And Akashi. Kise thought he was better than this. When had Akashi turned from the cunning, yet caring captain to such a dictatorial-like figure who threw away people who he deemed unworthy.

In the midst of the confusion, tears and cries from Kurokocchi, Kise could do nothing but tightly hug him.

* * *

Hearing from Momocchi's of what happened after Murasakibaracchi challenged Akashi to a one-on-one match gave Kise more reason to believe that an evil spirit had possessed Akashi. Surely it was the spirit of an evil basketball player of sorts.

Miki-san had scheduled photo-shoot the next day, the theme being Japanese culture.

It was set in an old temple, surrounded by luscious green forests, in the middle of nowhere. It was a little scary but one had to do what one must.

Kise read on a blog that the monks here were rather renowned and their ofudas had the capability to scare away evil spirits.

Hence after the shoot, he immediately asked the monks for the ofudas, stating that it was his duty to exorcise the spirits from his friend. The monks looked on apprehensively and suggested that Kise asked a professional for such a thing.

Kise said there was not enough time as the reservation for such a professional required months of pre-booking and gave the monk his pleading eyes. His innocence did the job and he went home in possession of exorcism devices.

He looked on the internet and various movies as guidelines for exorcism, but it was a difficult task. After all, exorcism differs from one country to another, and the spirit possessing the captain could be a foreigner.

The execution for his plans came sooner than expected.

Kurokocchi was practicing his shooting skills when Akashi came and spoke of how shootings skills were unnecessary.

It turned into an argument when Kurokocchi, persistent as he was complained to the spirit possessing Akashi's about the new club policies which allowed for skipping.

The captain, or the spirit in the captain didn't like those arguments and poured salt to Kurokocchi's wound by telling him how Aomine had no more need for Kurokocchi and added he was free to leave if he wanted.

It was mean and it made Kurokocchi cry and Kise could stand for that.

He ran to the captain, shouted "begone evil spirit!" Recited the verse for Japanese exorcism (as the probability of the ghost being Japanese was quite high), then threw all the paper ofudas at Akashi's face.

Purity did not come like Kise expected, in fact the air felt more dangerous. Kurokocchi's crying ended and was replaced by a sense of terror.

He looked at Akashi's face and realized that the spirit wasn't exorcised. Oops.

"Ryouta." Akashi said, and Kise trembled in fear. "I won't allow anyone to oppose me, not even my parents." The speech continued as a pair of scissor appeared in his hand as he walked towards Kise.

Was this the end of his bright life? Killed by a scissor? His largest success being a movie in which he cross-dressed? Such was the cruelty of fate.

Before doom came, Kurokocchi was in front of him like a knight, apologizing in his stead. It stopped the red devil's advancement for a short while, but that short while allowed Kurokocchi to quickly pulled Kise out of the gym before the captain spilled blood.

Kurokocchi got mad at him, pointing out how crazy he was for thinking that Akashi was possessed.

Kise thought it was outrageous of Kurokocchi to not believe so. Spiritual possession was the only reason for such a drastic change.

He suggested that they try again, only with a cross this time, and received a jab from Kurokocchi whose eyes threatened him not to attempt such actions again.

He told Momocchi and she immediately stuffed his face with her breast, hugging him and crying and she said "Don't do such a dangerous thing again Ki-chan."

He wasn't yet deterred of course. There was still Midorimacchi who was a follower of these spiritual beliefs. And with Midorimacchi, they would exorcise the basketball ghost and return the club to it's former happiness.

"Stop this dangerous foolishness," Midorimacchi shot his idea down when Kise asked.

Everyone was so unappreciative of his attempts to help.

* * *

Beyond Kise's predictions. Kurokocchi continued with basketball.

However, the gym was filled with such doom and gloom that made him feel as if they were in a worm infested swamp, hence entirely unacceptable.

He didn't like the silver haired bully person, and he didn't want to speak to Aomine after what he'd done to Kurokocchi so he confronted Murasakibaracchi who was lazing around in a classroom eating snacks.

The result wasn't pretty.

In started out with Murasakibaracchi thinking that he skipped as well and was surprised when Kise asked if he could regularly attend the basketball practice once more.

The purple head said no and Kise pleaded once more, only with snacks this time. Murasakibaracchi seemed tempted but said no once more and Kise pleaded again with more snacks. It continued for a while before Murasakibaracchi exploded.

"What's with Kise-chin anyway. It's not like Kise-chin likes basketball anyway.

"I don't but Kurokocchi does, and everyone ditching is making Kurokocchi and Momocchi sad! I don't like basketball, but there are things that are more important than that."

"So what," the titan drooled.

"So Murasakibaracchi should come back. It would make everything the same again."

"No."

"Why?" because why wouldn't Murasakibaracchi do it. Murasakibaracchi still played in official matches and Kise didn't even asked him to play, he was just asking him to be back in the gym, to have fun together, to have fun again.

"Kise-chin doesn't even play and Kise-chin doesn't understand. Kise-chin is only doing what you think would make Kuro-chin happy, so Kise-chin should just shut up." It was cruel, beyond what he thought Murasakibaracchi was capable of saying.

"What-"

"Is Kise-chin threatening that if I don't go to practice, Kise-chin won't be bringing me anymore snacks? Because if it is, then I don't need Kise-chin anyway."

It left him speechless.

"D-do you really mean that Murasakibarrachi."

The silence and the glaring look in Murasakibara told him everything.

"I still don't think that what I asked for was such a big thing." He said, glaring back. "But fine. If it's like this then I don't need Murasakibara-kun anymore as well."

Kise saw Murasakibara flinched as he quickly the room. He told himself it was dust in his eyes when drops of tears started falling.

* * *

The Nationals started and the team passed the first round of the preliminaries with overwhelming victory, yet no one was celebrating and no one was smiling anymore.

When Akashi approached him before the preliminaries, Kise thought death with ringing in his ears. It wasn't the case. Akashi simply said that he didn't need to cook for the team anymore, for victory was certainly assured. He didn't think it would hurt, but it did. Cooking for the club made him felt a part of something and that something was now lost.

The club became an awkward and stressful place. It was hard to look at Akashi and Murasakibara without feeling hurt, and it was hard to look Aomine without feeling betrayed.

Nowadays he simply visited the club to bring Kurokocchi milkshakes, Momocchi's cherry desserts and Midorimacchi's Oshiruko in hope that their cheerfulness would return.

It didn't.

He sometimes wondered why Kurokocchi was still in the club. Matches nowadays had no fun. Kurokocchi was the only one still making passes, everyone scored on their own and many matches turned into a point game between the starting members.

The second match of the preliminaries that just occurred became such a game.

In retrospect, he thought it was a good idea from Akashi since it kept the motivation going, but Kurokocchi disagreed with the whole think, so Kise kept silent.

Leaving the stadium wasn't difficult with Akashi leading them. Even Kise's massive fans whose powers were considerable parted way for the team to leave with Akashi's gaze alone.

On their way back. Kurokocchi found a student identification of a high school student named Hyuuga Junpei, said that it belonged to a basketball player they just passed and decided to return it.

Hence the reason why Kise, Kurokocchi and Momoi returned to the basketball stadium.

Kise's arrival heralded a pseudo-stop to the game as his fans, who were still lingering in the stadium screamed joy and gladness before turning their cameras from the stadium to him instead. That was his cross to bear as a renowned international superstar.

Kurokocchi sighed a resigned exasperation and Momocchi giggled at his reaction. Rude.

Kurokocchi walked to the rail to view the match, fixated. Kise could see why. The team with white uniform probably reminded Kurokocchi all that had been lost.

The energy they have, the amount the support, the reliance between one member to another. Watching it reminded him of the Nationals in their second year, but those things had all but disappeared in Teikou.

Akashi told them to quickly return as there was a team meeting afterwards, something Kise found outrageous, seeing that there wasn't any teamwork related activities within the team anymore.

Kurokocchi probably wanted to watch the match until the end so he sent a text to Akashi which said 'will be late, delayed by fangirls,' a received nothing in reply. So when Momocchi reminded Kurokocchi of the time, Kise assured them it was alright to watch the match until the end.

Things got shady the moment the team with the dark green team switched player.

The black haired guy who went onto the court had an expression Kise knew. In was those expression that the evil masterminds behind the scene wore. His instincts were telling him something was going to happen soon.

As Teikou's managers, they both had access to a video camera, for spying and scouting purposes. Momocchi was proficient at it and Kise knew some workings, being in the film industry and all.

Tapping her shoulders, he asked her to record the match, focusing especially on the new guy who just came in, while he recorded the general match.

His fans in the stadium saw him recording and proceeded to do the same.

Something happened. The shady guy signaled his henchman to attack the large guy in white after the dunk, injuring him to the point where a stretcher was required.

It was evil of the highest degree. The basketball ghost that possessed Akashi probably came from basketball players like that guy.

Kurokocchi looked shocked by the action, and within moments of the match ending, the three of them were running to see the referee.

The referee, being rather blind and stupid, did not believe their in their evidence. However, the commotion they caused became a blessing in disguise.

Kise's fans were surrounding these shouting unpleasant things like 'potato' to the referee as they waved their cameras around to surround Kise evidence that the injury was deliberate.

Within moments, news reporter joined in to film and take pictures of an international star like himself.

The commotion reached the point where the referee couldn't ignore and they were soon taken to the police station to explain their exclamations.

The police whose expertise lie in deliberate sports injury entered, watched the clip and asked them to explain what was happening. Momocchi went further, using the fruits from all her spying and scouting to show the amount of injuries happening where the boy called Makoto Hanamiya was involved.

In the end, the police accepted their arguments and gave Hanamiya and his henchmen 6 months of juvie punishment.

They left the police late at night.

Miki-san's car was parked in front of the station. His manager sighed at his antics and complained about press control but praised their brace efforts before he drove the three of them to their houses, then explained the reasons for the lateness to their parents.

It wasn't much improvement on what was happening in Teikou, but it was nonetheless a small victory for justice, and by the end of it, the three of them were smiling.

Also, he wasn't lying to Akashi, the fan mobbing really did delayed them after all.

* * *

The triumphant joy to punishing evil basketball players did not last.

Gloominess overtook those feelings the moment Kise walked into the basketball gym and saw Kurokocchi carrying the same depressed expression.

But even with the gloom surrounding them, Teikou sliced their opponents like melted butter.

Third day came and it was already certain that Teikou would win.

Kise knew Kurokocchi wanted to play against his friend (whose name Kise couldn't remember, it was O – something) in Meikou in the finals, he also knew that Kurokocchi wanted to show his friend the prowess he made, hence his determination to play in the semi-finals.

It wasn't a good idea, especially with the evil twins from last year participating.

His premonition came true when the twins got annoyed with their own uselessness at scoring points and attacked Kurokocchi, causing him to be sent to the medical room.

Darn, If he had taken a video of it, divine retribution would have been served.

Again, the fact that Kurokocchi got hurt made him forgot about twin's evilness as he ran to Kurokocchi side and left the court with him.

The first thing Kurokocchi said after he woke was to ask if he could still play in the finals.

Akashi said no, which was wise considering that Kurokocchi's forehead was still bleeding from the attack of the evil twins.

Looking back, perhaps Kurokocchi desire to play was completely justified, perhaps if Kurokocchi had played, the result would be different. Perhaps, if Kurokocchi had played, the team wouldn't be in this locker room, shouting at each other.

Akashi had chided Kurokocchi for asking the team to go all out, only when his childhood friend was concern.

"And what is wrong with that! It's just a single game, why couldn't you do what Kurokocchi asked. Why have you done that?" Because in Kise's eyes, there were no reasons to respect everyone anyway, friends were more important than the average person. It was just a single match, so why could they not play it normally, why must they completely humiliate Kurokocchi's friend with the match fixing.

"And stop saying that doing that gave you guys more focus, because you know it deep down that that isn't the main reason!" He shouted at Akashi, and death probably was within reach, especially with the dark glimpse that appeared in the Akashi's eyes, but he couldn't stop himself her remembered Kurokocchi crying earlier.

"We're just trying to cure the boredom you know. Why can't the strong have a little fun too. It's their own fault for being so damn weak. Man, they should be apologizing to us." Aomine drawled and Kise wanted to slap him right then and there.

"You could've done it on earlier matches. The finals was all Kurokocchi asked-"

"Shut up Kise! You don't understand. You don't even play basketball. You don't know how we were feeling. If you did, you wouldn't be Tetsu like this. Hell, you'll probably be on our side." Said Aomine.

"Then I'm happy that I don't play that stupid obsessive sports of yours. Cause if-" Again he was cut off. Everyone seemed rude when he was angry.

"Ryouta, why are you angry for Tetsuya sake? Are you fucking him?" said the silver haired gangster, and if Kise had a piece of brick, he would've thrown it at that horrible excuse of a human.

"Shut up, you-" Kurokocchi's hand was grasping his, making him stop.

"That's enough Kise-kun." Kurokocchi said before he turned to the rest of the team. "That victory was more painful to me than any of my past failures. Even if there were no other paths we could have taken. I do not want to experience that kind of feeling ever again, nor can I forget it. Therefore… I will quit basketball."

* * *

Kise never imagined a day where he would be bringing Kurokocchi schoolwork instead of the way round. His attendance records weren't the most stellar of them all, but if one looked at the records of the past two months alone, Kurokocchi's records were undoubtedly worst.

But attendances didn't matter anymore as they already had sufficient credit to graduate, in Kise's case, Miki-san connection had helped.

Kurokocchi selected Seirin as his high school of choice, and whilst many acting and culinary schools came to scout Kise, he decided to follow Kurokocchi.

Kurokocchi parents already knew him from his earlier visits, but lately they had come to know him more.

Not surprising, when he was visiting Kurokocchi's house nearly everyday, after school and after work. He cooked dinner for the Kuroko family a few times, and in the past 2 months, he'd counted 10 times where their families had dinner together outside.

Momocchi came to visit as well, but not as frequent, pointing that Aomine needed to be looked after. Kise thought otherwise, the ganguro was strong enough to protect himself if need be.

He'd told Momocchi that she should be coming with them to Seirin which caused her to wail how much she wanted to but couldn't. Again, Aomine was the reason.

Momocchi's reason was an exaggeration, but his clearly wasn't. Kurokocchi needed to be kept under tight watch. The one day he wasn't, he went off to the school of his childhood friend, came back and declared to Kise that he was going to play basketball once more, much to Kise's chagrined.

Basketball was like a marijuana. One couldn't stop even with a strong will to do so. One was also not truly satisfied once they returned to their addiction. Much like how Kurokocchi still remained depressed even after he returned to basketball. Again, the depression could be caused by how Kurokocchi shooting practice failed spectacularly.

Hence the plans he concocted with Kurokocchi's parents, which they absolutely agreed. The Middle School graduation certification could be sent by post as well, so there was no reason to attend.

Miki-san said Mrs. Claudia Himuro wanted him to attend an audition for a new role after all.

Pulling Kurokocchi's blankets off, he was greeted with the bluenette grumpy awakening face.

"Rise and shine Kurokocchi! You better shower cause we're flying to America! Your mum said yes, I've packed your bags and your passport's here. Miki-san will be acting as our caretaker." Kise said, presenting him the items.

"What?" Was Kurokocchi only reply.

* * *

PS: The police thing was made up entirely by me. I think they should've been to court but that's too much to write and too much unknowns for me OTL – but hey, divine punishment was served :O And OMG the exorcism! Also, I just feel that Kise treasures the people who he cares about whilst ignoring the rest.

Sorry for the long wait, I was having some writers block after wondering whether I should've added the –cchi on their names, but in the end decided that I will since it's Kise POV and all – please tell me if you disagree (which changes with Kise's relationship between them). Also, I got addicted to other things like Touken Ranbu and other games -/- sincerely sorry.

Another confession I have to make is that I have another 10,000 words for this written out (months ago). However, it's during the high school era… Cause I wanted to write that other scene more, but then couldn't get myself to write the parts in order to arrive there until now because you know… So much angst and I can't take angst well…OTL. SORRY! (I'm thinking it's 1 or 2 chapters before I'll arrive at that part)


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